The Latest: Fire chief: Vegas attack lessons may help others

LAS VEGAS – The Latest on a report on the response to the Oct. 1 mass shooting (all times local):

3:35 p.m.

A Nevada fire chief says a multiagency program created after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 allowed first responders to have a co-ordinated response to the Las Vegas mass shooting last year.

Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell says the department has released a report Monday on the response to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history to share the lessons the agencies have learned.

The report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local fire and police departments says communications were snarled and first responders were overwhelmed by 911 calls and the number of victims

Cassell says the department has begun switching some communications to a system exclusively for first responders.

The report says the overwhelming use of cell towers after the shooting led to sporadic, and sometimes nonexistent, service to the department’s mobile command computers.

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12:13 p.m.

Authorities say communications were snarled during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and that first responders in Las Vegas were overwhelmed by 911 calls and the number of victims.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and local fire and police departments released a report Monday with a timeline of actions by authorities, including responding to “distraction calls” that turned out to be false.

The false calls were among more than 1,500 related to the Oct. 1 shooting that law enforcement dispatchers answered within the first two hours. They reported an unattended backpack, a hotel fire, shots in a casino and hostages being taken at Las Vegas Strip resorts.

The report says “congested radio traffic made co-ordination difficult for response agencies.”

The shooting killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.